I have never understood why Ontario (or maybe it’s just Toronto, I don’t know) actually ships their garbage to the US, Michigan to be specific, in the first place. Ontario’s land mass is 1,076,395 km2 and Michigan’s is 56,890 mi2 – you don’t need to do the math to see that already this is making zero sense (to me, anyway).
What’s really strange is this article implies that interstate garbage dumping is something of an industry.
Granholm and Democratic legislators have pushed for a series of measures that would limit the importation of out-of-state trash and improve the safety of waste being hauled into Michigan.
House Democrats want the state to institute a higher dumping fee, which they say would discourage Canadian dumping by raising costs. Michigan now charges just 21 cents per ton, the lowest rate in the region.
How weird is that? Were some guys smoking stogies in a back room in the State Capitol Building sitting around, shooting the breeze & someone (probably not an environmental-activist-kind-of-guy) says “Hey, we don’t have enough garbage here! Where can we get some?” Is this some get-the-unemployed-working project gone horribly wrong? Did some other stogey-smoking guy (probably a union-kind-of-guy) say “Excellent idea! I’ve been saying we need to make government work for the people, and the people need good jobs. Garbage men get paid good money, so let’s do it! Job creation! Brilliant!” And then some shipping-magnate-kind-of-guy saw dollar signs?
But that still doesn’t explain why Toronto, or Ontario, or both are shipping their garbage to Michigan. For crying out loud, how hard is it to create a landfill?
Yes, they stink. They’re GARBAGE, after all, but that can be controlled. If you get creative with recycling & the processing of, well, garbage, then seriously, how hard can it be? Apparently, you don’t even have to have massive quantities of land available, if you do it right.
If someone out there can explain this mystery to me, I would be forever grateful.
Garbage dumping is an industry like healthcare, education, electricity, buying computers or Coca-Cola which creates jobs. It may very well be that shipping the trash to Michigan is cheaper and more economically efficient than doing so in Ontario, but the probably just due to environmental regulations or some other silly urban policy.
It seems very strange to me.
This reminds me vaguely about the complaints about the Swan Hills waste treatment facility that Alberta built in the 80s. Enviro-weenies and other such fearmongerers were raising a stink about the dangerous chemicals that would be treated there (apparently unaware of what the word “treated” means), while ignoring the much bigger crime that the facility was built with huge amounts of Don Getty public money.
Of course, the public money would have been able to be returned if the original purpose of the plant was fulfilled: processing not only chemically dangerous compounds from within Alberta but also compounds imported in from the U.S. and other provinces. This however raised a serious stink perhaps along the lines of the Minnesota fight, only ignoring two key elements:
1) The treatment plant was creating employment and wealth in Alberta by existing there
2) The treatment plant was.. well…treating hazardous waste. If these complainers really cared about the environment they would support a plant that was processing PCBs and other dangerous goods, rendering them into inert forms that wouldn’t harm the environment or us homo sapiens who live within it.
In other words, if it wasn’t for the NIMBY principle, other jusidictions would be competing for the right to handle waste products. Its one of those good ideas that requires you to look at the benefits rather than knee-jerking the “obvious” problems.
It’s no mystery really and I believe it is just Toronto.
Toronto’s city fathers have been leftist weenies for years and years. The GTA’s landfill sites are full. There used to be an incinerator, but they closed it down because it polluted the atmosphere and was probably the direct cause of global warming.(sarcasm alert)
It is cheaper for Toronto to ship their garbage to Michigan than to actually do something about the problem. (a lot of garbage comes out of Toronto apparently)
Of course retrofitting the incinerator is out of the question, that would be icky burning garbage and all. Even though with new technology pollution would at a minimum and it could produce a much needed source of energy. (Toronto people don’t like the dark or be too cold or too hot)
Opening new landfill sites it out of the question. That would be too stinky and besides how could you build 1,200 sq ft homes that cost $500,000 if all the land was taken up with landfill sites.
Hey did I ever tell you that Toronto is a nuclear free zone. We should all say thanks to Jack Layton for that one. He even led a protest when an American warship docked in Toronto harbour because it had the capability to carry nuclear weapons. (It didn’t have any on board at the time, but that shouldn’t get in the way of a good protest now should it) If a nuclear war ever breaks out Toronto will be safe because everyone will know Toronto is nuclear free.
NIMBYism
Just do some research on “Adams Mine” and “Toronto City Council” and you will learn all you need to know. The moonbats have been at the tiller of Toronto City Hall for a long time and this issue is one of many decisions that various councils have taken that make normal people shake their heads.
It’s part NIMBYism and part keep-your-trash-to-yourself. What most of you out west don’t realize is that everyone dislikes Toronto, even the rest of Ontario.
About a decade or so ago now, there was a massive fiasco when Toronto tried to have it’s garbage shipped via train to an abandoned mine in the northern Ontario community of Kirkland Lake. The people in that community objected, there were huge protests where people chained themselves to train tracks, blocked the mine entrance, and generally made it clear that garbage was not going to Kirkland Lake.
So they switched to the backup plan: Michigan.
People there complained too, I suppose, but my understanding is that the landfill site they’re using already existed, so the public wasn’t really informed until after garbage was moving.
THere’s also the NAFTA factor: Garbage is trade, Michigan/US can’t block just Canada’s garbage, because that’d be a violation of NAFTA.
Ohh, and Toronto doesn’t have it’s own landfill because of horrific civic planning, and NIMBYism. They essentially went and let houses be built all over the place, and now there is nowhere within Toronto’s city limits to build a landfill, that’s far enough away from residences.
Would you want a landfill serving a population of over 5 million in your backyard? Probably not.
My guess is that once MI bans garbage imports, the province will step in and force some rural community (such as Kirkland Lake) to take TO’s garbage.
— Steve
Adams Mine (aka: Kirkland Lake) is on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_Mine
Yes, it’s Toronto garbage, or as they say there in latte land, garBaaage.You can sum up the problem as NIMBY, in this case the ‘backyard’ was to be Kirkland Lake. The Harris gov’t had a plan to ship it by train to an abandoned open pit mine near Kirkland Lake. It would have provided some good paying jobs in an area of chronic unemployment and I think there was a proposal to pipe the methane (from decaying Big Macs and Pizza Pizzas) into town at little or no cost (free natural gas). The environmental studies were done and it passed, but the usual tree huger/NDP crowd supported by the Ontario Liberals convinced the locals that this would be hell on earth and the gov’t backed down. BTW here in Ottawa for some reason we get our US network feed from Detroit and this is a big issue there. They are going over this stuff with radiation meters and toxic gas detectors and at the first sign of trouble the trucks will get turned around and its back to latte land and into McSquinty’s lap. And that would be a good thing.
It boils down to money. The bottomline is that it is cheaper to ship it to MI than to do the necessary upgrades to incinerators and acquire land for landfill use. Vancouver and area (GVRD) ships a large percentage of it’s garbage north to Cache Creek in the interior. As land in GVRD IS expensive, so to is the problem of leachate. That icky shite that leaches out of the garbage. Given that the coast receives massive amounts of rain, the leachates will in short time go into the groundwater. In the interior where it is dry, there is rainfall avg of 8″/yr making it ideal. The refuse is landfilled in lined pit and aerated, promoting the decomposition of material. This gives off methane gas which can be recovered if desired. Currently the GVRD trucks it’s garbage 200 km north, and subsidises it with a back-haul of woodchips. GVRD also STILL crams many tons of refuse per day into a bog there, as well as incinerating several tons/day. As well, refuse is taken from Van.Is to the interior. There is another 2-3 yrs before the landfill site at Cache Creek is full, and plans are underway for a new site to open. The village of Cache Creek gets compensation from GVRD for the land use which helps pay for many improvements in the area. Currently, the economic impact of this landfilling has a yearly total of about 4-5 million dollars to the local economy, and the operation involving 2 companies is the biggest employer in the area along with Highland Valley Mines.
So in the case of Vancouver area, it is some NIMBY-ism, but more to do with environmental impact. While the refuse does contain recyclables, most of them have been removed before shipping. You can break garbage down to the molecular level, even change them, but you can’t make them disappear. They have to go somewhere. We will always have garbage, in one form or another.
Now we are hearing that Toronto want to send their gargage to us here in the Ottawa area. One of our bigger landfills (dump) was supposed to reach it’s capacity in 3-4 years and now they want to triple the size of it (Carp Mountain) so that we can accept garbage from “the rest of Ontario and parts of western Quebec”. This dump is located right in the heartland of suburbia (between Kanata and Stittsville, almost the first thing you see when you come into Ottawa from Toronto, nice..) and already the smell is disgusting for miles all around. It’s not far from parks and schools, it’s already been leaking (to the point where 2 homes closeby had to be bought and destroyed), there are a “million” birds (rats with wings) around it all the time…it’s a huge health harzard. Do we hear protests from any environmental groups? Not a chance!! The province was pushing this through without any consultation and finally residents started hearing about these plans and protesting. Now the deadline for decision is pushed back a couple of weeks. Our local talk radio station has been talking about this issue and other methods of getting rid of garbage that should be seriously looked at(incineration, plasma something or another..) but the left are onto this “don’t make the garbage in the first place” kick and just don’t get it!! Incineration, apparently, is widely used in other countries; is no longer any more of a pollutant that a dump is and can create energy at the same time if I understand correctly. All I have to say is that I’m glad I live accross the river here on the Quebec side!
Since something like 70% of Toronto’s garbage is PACKAGING, (and packaging creates jobs, too)- it makes equally good sense to reduce the portion sizes in order to make more of it!
Duh!
Since something like 70% of Toronto’s garbage is PACKAGING, (and packaging creates jobs, too)- it makes equally good sense to reduce the portion sizes in order to make more of it!
Duh!
Kate,
I live about 20 miles from where the trash is trucked from the GTA. It is about two things, in Canada it is very expensive to create a landfill, and two the NAFTA agreement allows it. So you put two and two together and voila you have CDN garbage going into MI landfills.
BUT….then you have the associated costs almost never mentioned, roads are tore up, blood and other hazardous waste spilling onto the roads, hye I’m not making this up! The best part is the former martin crony threatening to take the trash issue to the NAFTA decision board because America wasn’t playing by the rules and should accept CDN trash.
Seems like Edmonton did something right with that Cloverbar site. If yer gonna do it, do it right and make it self-sufficient and enviro-friendly.
Garbage disposal and or recycling is a scam..
Is there a blue box program in Moscow, do they recycle in Havana, do Africans in Robert Mugabe’s socialist paradise ban landfills and ship there garbage to South Africa.
NOT BLOODY LIKELY….
Here in north america the people have been brain-washed into thinking, that garbage is piling up everywhere, we sort through our garbage to divert it from the landfill (WE DO ALL THE WORK)
and yet garbage removal costs keep going up.
Listen up politicians and unions, if I’m doing the work, the costs should be going down.
It seems to me, that truck makers have sold every municipality in north america a slew of new recycling trucks, plastic manufactureres, are having a field day pumping out blue, gray, green and any colour you can think recycling boxes.
Looks like someone is making a nice living from this end of the world crisis of mountains of garbage.
Here in Ontario, we should have at most 3 giant landfill recycling centre’s(dumps), get rid of all the recycling trucks and coloured boxes, throw all your garbage into one truck.
The trucks in your community will empty at a local transfer station, all garbage will be loaded onto trains and sent to one of the 3 dump-recycling centre,
and one more thing….there won’t be any unionized employees at said recycling centre’s because all the recycling will be done by
….FEDERAL CONVICTS….
as part of their sentencing requirments.
Imagine that, thousands of trucks off of our roads, no more sorting of garbage by average canadians, and convicts being put into productive rehabilitation.
But then again canadian politicians aren’t known for common sense solutions….
Unfortunately the only thing that rural Canada wants from Toronto is transfer payments.
Largs, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
American warships never confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons on board as a matter of national defense policy.
It’s classified.
McGiveme said not long ago Toronto needed to build a gas fired power plant to avoid rolling black outs. You would think the logical step would be Toronto building a state of the art incinerator, hell Holland burns some of its garbage, and Germany actually imports garbage to burn as well. Its alittle unsettling seeing Toronto to the left of areas in Europe.
Toronto needs to take care of its own problem, and it may find that not many rural municipalities are ready or willing to take one for the team.
Nuke the Garbage!
we all love Toronto so much . . . and teh Mayor has such cool hair.
and the Leafs will win the cup this year and . . . .
It’s all very simple. For one, it’s a city of Toronto issue, not Ontario. The rest of us laugh at them. The bottom line, the hard left political cowards that run the city don’t have the gumption to put a dump in your neighbourhood. They had a prposal to dump it in an abandoned mine up north, but the envirowhacko’s stepped in, the leftish council cowards caved, and now they send a few hundred trucks a day spewing pollution down 200 miles of 401 as their solution.
Toronto is a mess, a place that use to be a must visit, which is now avoid if possible. Remember Jack Layton and Olivia Chow are both ‘popular’ ex-councillors in Toronto. They are not unusual, but the norm. And they are ruining the place. The garbage issue is a symptom of the greater problem.
NIMBYism of Toronto.
It was hilarious last few months where Toronto was trying to block the new natural gas power plant being built in Toronto. The provincial electrical utility was totally dismayed because the power lines can’t handle bringing in all in from outside and said there might need to be blackouts this summer if they didn’t build it. Of course NIMBY wouldn’t allow more power lines to be built. Sanity came form the province not the city and the plant is being built. That is how insane Toronto is, city hall would rather deprive its citizens of electricity than shrug off its NIMBYism.
Toronto’s garbage solution is simply: close off both ends of Toronto harbour, drain it and then fill it up!
I understand that a few years ago Sweden decided to cut back on… recycling! Too expensive, apparently.
The best two technologies I’ve seen for garbage disposal recently are the plasma lance incinerator, which converts everything into ethane and inert slag (glass basically), and the one where bio material (sewage, any and all plant/animal material, paper, manuer etc.) get converted into crude oil.
Count on not seeing either of these being implemented in Toronto any time soon.
The “garbage wars” have been fought in the GTA for decades. I can remember visiting a friend, in the early 70s, who lived about 6 miles from a relatively new garbage dump for the city of Toronto. Even though this dump had been established 4 or 5 years before, the local residents were still up in arms over it. I remember hearing that their property values had dropped signifigantly in that area. I remember the huge flocks of sea gulls that seemed to be everywhere. I doubt if I have seen that many sea gulls collectively since then.
Garbage is a huge problem in the Toronto area. There have been several locations selected in southern Ontario that have all resulted in massive public protest and uproar. It is a problem with no easy answer. The decison to send all the garbage to Kirkland Lake, would have solved many of the protest problems, as well as created some jobs in a once thriving community, however, the costs of getting the garbage delivered there would have been astromonical. Kirkland Lake is LONG WAYS from Toronto.Take a look at a map… it is a LONG ways!! I believe that was when the Michigan proposal started to get legs. The Michigan site was less than one half as far, therfore the transporting costs would be much less. There was also the fact that at this time Michigan wanted Toronto’s garbage. Why you ask? Simply because they could charge Toronto for every load of garbage they brought and it would be a great boost to the Michigan economy, especially in that area.( good old American free enterprise at work). There may have been more reasons for doing this, but at the time it probably seemed like a viable solution. It appeased the GTA enviro nerds, it appeased the southern ON municipalites and land owners, it appeased the GTA tax payers who got their garbage taken care of at a lower cost, and they had a US neighbour very close to them ( in relative terms) that actually wanted their garbage and their business.
Garbage has become big business and there have been huge fortunes made by some individuals who saw the opportunity, and were willing to make a business out of other peoples wastes.
It appears that the Michigan solution may may have run its course, and I am sure the ” garbage wars” will be starting again in this part of Canada. It is a big problem that isn’t helped by the facts that they have the Great Lakes that have been polluted enough and they need to be protected from further damage. The Canadian Sheild is close by, and this has its own set of problems in regards to proper garbage disposal. Add to the mix a bunch of Lefties on Toronto city council, and one can see that a proper solution will probably never be found…. that is without alot of commotion, going in circles and wasted money.
“….Nuke the Garbage!…”
Perhaps Toronto city council should get together with The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, who together with OPG & AECL are still scratching their heads in trying to come up with a long-term strategy for hiding all that radioactive nuclear fuel created by reactors like Darlington & Pickering. I’m sure they could get a discount on meeting rooms & bottled water.
Most of the good stuff has already been taken, but a few comments from a non-native Torontonian (like there is any other kind – been here 20 years and met maybe a dozen people born and raised here…):
1) the Adams mine was actually supported by the council and mayor of the area; most of the opposition was from out-of-towners and the like;
2) as the Wiki article mentions, the mine has filled up with water; if the thing leaked, it would be empty, no?;
3) Our Hair, the Mayor, has said that the company shipping the garbage is legally responsible for finding another place for it if Michigan shuts it borders. Now, I know he is a genius (just ask him, he’s Ivy League educated!), but what if the company goes under first?;
4) Penn and Teller have a good episode of their show “Bullshit” about recycling; highly recommended;
5) I’ve always said that if the lefties don’t watch it, we’ll have to bury it in High Park. Anything else would be hypocritical to those moonbats who want to tell us that everything in life is connected. Why are property values for Moses Znaimer more important than Gordon Lunchbucket out in Vaughan?
6) Poster above is right about transfer payments. Everyone hates us until they want some bucks…
Just a though Caligula Jones, Alberta pays more per capita into equalization than Ontario, does that mean they hate us even more?
Largs…Steve in Ontario…dave…Grant:…your posts are the closest to the reality of this issue, one that I was involved with…as a contra! The rest of the posts reveal the misinformed, uninformed and/or general ignorance regarding this issue.
There is too much history to post here but I will say this: one criteria for siting these proposed “dumbp” locations is that they are placed over fresh water aquifers. That way they can tell if the “dumbp” (liner) has failed.
Yes, a solution has to be found for the garbage…our garbage. It will be an imperfect solution as it will involve the governments of the day and the emotions of all affected. The answer???…it could be “blowin’ in the wind” as Mr. Zimmerman once wrote.
Caligula Jones:
That the mine is full of water indicates that water leaked-in, no? It would make sense then that if water can leak in, it can leak out. Thing with mines is, they run pumps non-stop because they’re almost always below the static water table. Therefore, the mine will fill with water over time once the pumps are off.
What’s interesting (and that I didn’t know until I read the wiki article) is that Dalton McLiar has effectively pulled out all the permits and approvals for the Adam’s mine proposal.
Let’s hope Dalton hasn’t called an election before MI slams the door on the garbage, not that Dalton is anything more than a one-trick pony anyways.
— Steve
Caligula Jones:…re your 2nd point…”if the thing leaked it would be empty, no?”…the hole (an abandoned iron ore mine) is “full” of water because it is below the water table…leaking is a two way street.
Garry, are you saying in your post dumps are purposely built over fresh water aquifiers to see if the liner leaks? That doesn’t make much sence when test pits can be bored around the site to an elevation below the dump excavation to check for escaping leachate. Why would one want a “river” running underneath a dump site?
This could be solved in two words:
Thermal depolymerization.
It takes in anything with the exception of nuclear waste and turns it into light crude. There’s a great article in Discovery about the process.
The Michigander who profits from Toronto’s garbage is also the largest out of state recipient of garbage from Indiana. (Vancouver-born) Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is hardly alone in desiring a halt to garbage importation, but runs against US Interstate Commerce regulations, put in place to prevent parochial states from splitting the US into 50 protectionist mini-markets. Michigan could use health and safety issues to stop the garbage, but have been unable to demonstrate that the landfill is non-compliant.
What I do not understand is why Ontarians are against shippping their garbage to Michigan. Until a more amenable solution presents itself, or Jennifer finds a way, keep the trucks rolling.
Far better solutions are available and our garbologists should visit cities like Munich for a lesson. Many German cities fuel their district heating systems with garbage. Only non-combustible demolition rubble goes to landfill. The vitrified remainder of incineration is used in higway contruction. – JL
Our solution in Edmonton began with a situation that was similar to TO’s. About 15 years ago, our main dump was filling up and the best estimate at the time was that there was only 2-3 years of life left in it. A new site was found and approved and then NIMBYism lifted it’s ugly head. In this case, that was a good thing. Surrounding counties didn’t want our junk either. It forced council to find other solutions. Ergo, our state of the art composting and recycling centre. That dump that was to be at capacity in 2-3 years? Has about 10 years of life left. Our sewage system is also the best in Canada, putting clean, drinkable water back into the North Saskatchewan River.
Charley explained the Ottawa situation very well. The only thing he didn’t add was that we might be processing his across the river garbage.
Incineration is the obvious solution, even older ones could have scrubbers put on them and exhausts regenerated to energy output.
Regardless of the cities involved, isn’t it a wonder that a provincial standard or some forward thinking processes are not in place? Also, we are being cajoled into changing our living patterns with meters monitoring it, in Ontario, instead of the provincial government addressing the shortage of hydro generation.
In either case, with immigration levels increasing as well as normal housing requirements, conservation should be encouraged, but it is not the whole answer.
Of course, with the McGuinty Liberal government, retaining union positions to haul or install or promote the recycling industry is one vote..is two votes…
George, I lived across the river from the Goldbar site, and would take the walking bridge when dogwalking, and rarely if ever got a whiff. I didn’t even know it was there until my daughter dragged me off to Earth Day. I was quite surprised.
Scott:…from the hydrogeology discipline, there aren’t “rivers” of running water in an aquifer. The lateral movement is very slight. The movement is mostly vertical (ie: it percolates…remember Mom’s old glass Pirex coffee maker?). There are underground streams but that is different.
The document I have is from the on-site engineer (at the now closed Keele Valley Dumbp) and, on Keele Valley letterhead, the statement is (I papaphrase)…’the location of an aquifer below the landfill helps us to easily determine when the liner has failed’. Are all landfills located over aquifers…no…but the mega-dumbps planned by Boob Rae were. When they had exhausted the process locally, the senior engineer for the Caledon site was being sent on a mission, to northern Ontario, to search out fresh water aquifers (this from his own mouth to me). When he told me this (he wasn’t aware of the document I held) I asked him if he was searching for new dumbp sites and his countenance literally froze. The look told all, in my estimation.
Are they ALL (including the old ones) located over aquifers…no (could be by accident…most towns were sited very near to water) but the three I dealt with (one directly) were sited with that in mind.
And Scott, I guess test pits could be included but I believe they would probably be below the water table anyway so the introduction of water, from the aquifer, would be a reality.
Re: some of the other posts…I don’t have all the details but more than just a few. The Michigan landfill was started as a commercial operation by the local municipality to balance their local tax base. It is site being used by many companies as a destination for the commodity called garbage. The discovery of radio-active and bio-haz medical waste, in the loads (amongst other issues), caused the reaction to the transfer of GTA waste to the US. I believe the cost is somewhere around $120 Cdn to ship vs the Keele Valley rate of about $83 Cdn to landfill.
Too much history to post it all here…later maybe.
Ian H:…very interesting link…thanx!
All of which leads to a unique Southwestern Ontario experience…travelling west on the 401 behind the Toronto garbage truck.
William — good idea regarding our federal inmates. Do you think actually having to work might help rehabilitate some of them, which would be a nice by product.
some of that garbage would have come from former city councillor Jack Laytons subsidized housing.
he would know about and endorse the shipping of Torontos garbage so its NIMSBY , not in my subsidized backyard.
Is this like a daycare [producing better human beings]for adults?
NDP and Libs would surely get behind it then.
The posterboys for the NDP, Holland have national service.
It is lofty stuff “to serve your country”
Sorry everyone I posted to the wrong story!
I see in the Vancouver Province this morning an article on a company who are setting up a methane extraction system on the Burns Bog (a Vancouver-area dumping site). Now, if this seems practical for Vancouver…………..Hello! Earth Calling Toronto!!!!!
There are other solutions other than shipping the stuff to the U.S.
Of course, one of our problems is that we get so much garbage from the U.S. in the form of bad TV, bad movies, etc.etc.etc., why not ship some back?
it must be hard to find anywhere in ontario to build a landfill considering that theres so much rock there close to the surface . plus theres a lot of lakes and water that can be easily polluted .
here in medicine hat we’re kind of lucky theres a large coulee they use for the landfill with lots of clay for lining pits and cover .they get garbage here from pulp plants in manitoba and even northern ontario i think that s mostly ash that nobody else will take . i think it pays off very good financially but its getting full .
if only people would cover their loads when they haul it there .
proposals for using abandoned open pit mines in Ontario were defeated because they didnt want Torontos garbage being trucked past their homes. shortest route out was over the border. this has been going for more than 10 years.
The bottom line is that Toronto garbage is shipped to Michigan because professional political activists felt they had something to gain by blocking an economically and environmentally sensible plan to dispose of it in Kirkland Lake.
The Adams Mine dump site was selected after exhaustive environmental studies and a competitive bid process had been completed. Transportation costs (and the pollution associated with said transportation) would have been minimized by using trains.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to determine that leachate from the Adams Mine would not negatively effect anyone. If that was the case, massive problems would already have been created by the gold mine tailings that are scattered throughout the Kirkland Lake area. These tailings are visible everywhere and contain high concentrations of cyanide.
Employment would have been created not only in Kirkland Lake but in other northern communities involved in the rail industry. Of course, I’m sure that a great deal more employment is created in the trucking industry, petroleum industry, and government than would have been created by the Kirkland Lake proposal. But, that is what happens when the most efficient and environmentally friendly solution is tossed out for political reasons. (I wonder who was funding the activists?)
Anyway, as a property owner, in the New Liskeard clay belt, I observed one of the protests that took place here. When folks discuss the local opposition this what they refer to. Yet, we are located over 100 kms from Kirkland Lake! Anyway many local farmers were scared into believing that ground water in this area would be contaminated by leachate escaping from the Adams Mine. I kept thinking about the environmental studies that had been done by reputable and qualified engineers and, of course, the tailings which have been around for decades. Then I thought of the charletons (imported from Toronto), our local snake oil salesman (David Ramsey) and the media that were whipping the population into a frenzy. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the mine dump plan was a brilliant idea!
Time has passed since the Adams Mine fiasco though. Technology and Ontario’s need for electricity have advanced and expanded. The most financially effecient and environmentally friendly solutions may be different now, and probably are. The question is can we ever do the right thing instead of the most politically expedient thing? My guess is probably not.
Kate, it’s the old NIMBY mentality.
Jeff:…an excellent post and factual. I sat in during the “Adams Mine” public meeting here and still have the promotional video. The project certainly had merit but, as you must know, even the best engineered site might have problems. The political footballs were certainly flying high during those times and had a lot to do with closing down the proposed project.
The Adams Mine and any landfill requires electrical pumps to remove the leachate for processing. While it is a futuristic thought, these “dumbps” will continue to spew leachate for years to come (even after the site is full and no longer receiving garbage and therefore revenue. Someone has to pay to keep the pumps running and to process the leachate after the site is closed. Yes, long term thinking I agree but an issue none the less.
On a small note, my great uncle George was the one who located the site where New Liskard was built. He sold much of his property in 1906 and I believe there is still a street or road named after him.
Cheers!